“Blu-ray or Bust” - STAR TREK BEYOND

“Blu-ray or Bust”

STAR TREK BEYOND (PG-13, 2016, 122 minutes, SKYDANCE PRODUCTIONS/BAD ROBOT)

Ladies and gentlemen, J.J. Abrams has officially left the building.

If you are looking for any singular Abramsesque moments the third installment of the STAR TREK reboot, you will be sorely disappointed. While he may have produced it, his influence shows not in this fast paced, helter-skelter sequel to the arguably genius INTO DARKNESS. (I’ll fight ten diehard Trekkies over that one, too.) This time around, we have the frenetic eyeballs of Justin Lin of FAST AND FURIOUS fame.

If you want to call it that.

Don’t misunderstand me—there are some fantastic moments in this film. All of our characters are back, and many of the ones that usually take a back seat to Kirk (Chris Pine), Spock (Zachary Quinto), and the flappable Dr. McCoy (Karl Urban), get to shine with what is given them. This film is also heavy with the nods to the original “Trek” and its cast; Pine is more Shatner-like than ever before, there is a lingering image of the original cast, and, in the most touching moment, a serious wink and a smile to George Takei when it comes to Sulu’s family life. It is in these little moments, and the characters, which make this a Trek film.

Beyond that, well…

This “episode” plays out almost like a TNG film—sometimes, it is way too desperate to hold your attention. It is action packed, but the action feels scripted, at times predictable. The charm of the previous films was some of the unpredictability of the action sequences. You know our characters are going to be okay, but it’s how they get to that inevitable conclusion that is the most fun. You get robbed of that this time around.

Simon Pegg (“Scotty”) helped pen the script, and his touches—the humor, the different character arcs—are what save this from total ruin. Therein lies the problem: it is obvious this film was written by two different people. The other screenwriter—and more than likely whom we have to thank for the exuberant action scenes—is Doug Jung, a guy whose prior credits include mostly television programs. And none of them were even remotely Trekish.

You’ll want to check out most of the special features; the best are the ones on the technical designs (the huge sets they chose to build rather than CGI), and the Gag Reel. There is also a five minute “appreciation” of Leonard Nimoy and Anton Yelchin (Chekov), both of whom died in the last year. But of that five minutes, almost a minute of it is devoted to end credits—something totally unnecessary in a tribute video. What at first seems fitting and heart touching is quickly turned to tribble poop because someone felt they needed to be acknowledged for holding a microphone for a ten second this-is-why-Nimoy-was-great quote. It seems in poor taste, kind of like how the filmmakers under-used Idris Elba as the bad guy.

While this film is not a necessary addition to your library, there are moments of honest acting here that do demand your attention. And it’s still better than STAR TREK III: THE SEARCH FOR SPOCK. Let’s hope this popcorn flick does not end the future of the franchise because of its slightly sour taste.

(And if anyone else agrees that the space city of “Yorktown” is an obvious starting point for a television show, let me know—you don’t just throw Greg Grunberg in something of a bit part and not expect it to look gratuitously obvious…)

Film Grade: C

Special Features: B

Blu-ray Necessary: Recommended

-- T.S.Kummelman